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Page 23
I often visited her at Malmaison, as Duroc assured me that the Emperor
had no objection to my doing so; yet he must have been fully aware that
when Josephine and I were in confidential conversation he would not
always be mentioned in terms of unqualified eulogy; and in truth, his
first friend and his first wife might well be excused for sometimes
commingling their complaints.
Though more than a twelvemonth had elapsed since the divorce grief still
preyed on the heart of Josephine. "You cannot conceive, my friend," she
often said to me, "all the torments that I have suffered since that fatal
day! I cannot imagine how I survived it. You cannot figure to yourself
the pain I endure on seeing descriptions of his fetes everywhere. And
the first time he came to visit me after his marriage, what a meeting was
that! How many tears I shed! The days on which he comes are to me days
of misery, for he spares me not. How cruel to speak of his expected
heir. Bourrienne, you cannot conceive how heart-rending all this is to
me! Better, far better to be exiled a thousand leagues from hence!
However," added Josephine, "a few friends still remain faithful in my
changed fortune, and that is now the only thing which affords me even
temporary consolation." The truth is that she was extremely unhappy, and
the most acceptable consolation her friends could offer her was to weep
with her. Yet such was still Josephine's passion for dress, that after.
having wept for a quarter of an hour she would dry her tears to give
audience to milliners and jewellers. The sight of a new hat would call
forth all Josephine's feminine love of finery. One day I remember that,
taking advantage of the momentary serenity occasioned by an ample display
of sparkling gewgaws, I congratulated her upon the happy influence they
exercised over her spirits, when she said, "My dear friend, I ought,
indeed, to be indifferent to all this; but it is a habit." Josephine
might have added that it was also an occupation, for it would be no
exaggeration to say that if the time she wasted in tears and at her
toilet had been subtracted from her life its duration would have been
considerably shortened.
The vast extent of the French Empire now presented a spectacle which
resembled rather the dominion of the Romans and the conquests of
Charlemagne than the usual form and political changes of modern Europe.
In fact, for nearly two centuries, until the period of the Revolution,
and particularly until the elevation of Napoleon, no remarkable changes
had taken place in the boundaries of European States, if we except the
partition of Poland, when two of the co-partitioners committed the error
of turning the tide of Russia towards the west! Under Napoleon
everything was overturned with astonishing rapidity: customs, manners,
laws, were superseded
--[The so-called "French" armies of the time, drawn from all parts
of the Empire and from the dependent States, represented the
extraordinary fusion attempted by Napoleon. Thus, at the battle of
Ocana there were at least troops of the following States, viz.
Warsaw, Holland, Baden, Nassau, Hesse-Darmstadt, Frankfort, besides
the Spaniards in Joseph's service. A Spanish division went to
Denmark, the regiment from Isembourg was sent to Naples, while the
Neapolitans crossed to Spain. Even the little Valais had to furnish
a battalion. Blacks from San Domingo served in Naples, while
sixteen nations, like so many chained dogs, advanced into Russia.
Such troops could not have the spirit of a homogeneous army.
Already, in 1808, Metternich had written from Paris to his Court,
"It is no longer the nation that fights: the present war (Spain) is
Napoleon's war; it is not even that of his army." But Napoleon
himself was aware of the danger of the Empire from its own extent.
In the silence of his cabinet his secretary Meneval sometimes heard
him murmur, "L'arc est trop longtemps tendu."]--
by new customs, new manners, and new laws, imposed by force, and forming
a heterogeneous whole, which could not fail to dissolve, as soon as the
influence of the power which had created it should cease to operate.
Such was the state of Italy that I have been informed by an individual
worthy of credit that if the army of Prince Eugene, instead of being
victorious, had been beaten on the Piava, a deeply-organised revolution
would have broken out in Piedmont, and even in the Kingdom of Italy,
where, nevertheless, the majority of the people fully appreciated the
excellent qualities of Eugene. I have been also credibly informed that
lists were in readiness designating those of the French who were to be
put to death, as well as those by whom the severe orders of the Imperial
Government had been mitigated, and who were only to be banished. In
fact, revolt was as natural to the Italians as submission to the Germans,
and as the fury of despair to the Spanish nation. On this subject I may
cite an observation contained in one of the works of Alfieri, published
fifteen years before the Spanish war. Taking a cursory view of the
different European nations he regarded--the Spaniards as the only people
possessed of "sufficient energy to struggle against foreign usurpation."
Had I still been near the person of Napoleon I would most assuredly have
resorted to an innocent artifice, which I had several times employed, and
placed the work of Alfieri on his table open at the page I wished him to
read. Alfieri's opinion of the Spanish people was in the end fully
verified; and I confess I cannot think without shuddering of the torrents
of blood which inundated the Peninsula; and for what? To make Joseph
Bonaparte a King!
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